The two teams will face off in the second semifinal of the 76th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy at the King Fahd Stadium here on Wednesday, hoping to reclaim the title and return to the pinnacle of Indian football once again.
Karnataka made it to the 12-team Final Round as the best second-placed team in Group 1, finishing behind hosts Delhi in the stage which was played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi. They finished second behind Punjab in the Final Round, beating Kerala and Goa and playing out draws with Punjab, Maharashtra and Odisha. It was the draw between Punjab and defending champions Kerala in the final league match that paved their way to the semis. If Kerala had won that match against Punjab, they would have finished second in the group.
Services, in contrast, had a smoother run to the last-four stage. They made it directly to the Final Round along with Railways and Odisha and then topped Group B with four wins and a draw in five matches. They defeated fellow semi-finalists Meghalaya, Manipur and West Bengal in this phase and the lone blemish for them was a draw against Delhi.
